Just as 21 Jump Street assured the audience they were really in on the joke of how unoriginal creating a movie based off an ‘80s TV show was, 22 Jump Street beats us over the head that they are self aware of how their sequel mocks sequels. Nick Offerman looks directly into the camera as he explains sequels have more money but are always worse. Roles become worn and the entire franchise ends in the trash compactor of sadness. Spelling it out directly for us, the returning main cast explains they will do everything exactly the same. The police procedural will follow the same course, the odd couple dynamic between Jonah Hill (2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street) and Channing Tatum (2013’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation) will follow suit, but since this is the second time around, there will be more explosions, car chases, and fancier set design. Thankfully, the jokes are still funny and fresh even though we get the mirror image of a plot and characters we saw two years ago.

Police officers Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) go undercover at the local college to sniff out a new designer drug (just as they ferreted out a new drug at a high school last time). Schmidt remains clingy and jealous and Jenko is unsure of himself intellectually when it comes to investigations. In a reversal, it is Jenko who fits in this time as he automatically connects with the football team, the lead fraternity, and develops a serious bromance with the school’s quarterback, Zook (Wyatt Russell, 2011’s Cowboys & Aliens). Schmidt lands with the bohemian art crowd and takes the stage in a very awkward poetry slam.

Since the plot is on autopilot, the characters take center stage. In a ceaseless, and after a while somewhat uncomfortable relentless manner, the relationship between Schmidt and Jenko is saturated with homoerotic/phobic undertones. Multiple people they meet for the first time assume they are partners. They have an extended double entendre session with a psychiatrist about their togetherness issues. To kick off the film’s climax, Jenko excoriates a henchman for his use of the ‘f--’ word saying that kind of talk is not appropriate anymore. The script ties us into present day cultural vernacular controversies, but the uninterrupted focus on the issue borders on tedious toward the end.

To pick us back up, there are a few strong comedic episodes that are genuinely laugh out loud funny. Schmidt gets caught up in the morning walk of shame ritual on campus and his new friend with benefits, Maya (Amber Stevens, 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man), comes with some unexpected baggage. Ice Cube (2014’s Ride Along) as the angry, kick them in the rear, Captain receives more screen time to become even angrier. Rounding out the supporting cast, Jillian Bell (2012’s The Master) plays a millennial with an arsenal of jokes about how ridiculously old Schmidt and Jenko look compared to everyone else. Even though they are standard age jokes, they work on every level and are hysterical.

The constant bickering between Hill and Tatum, present to emphasize how different they are, not just physically, but on every other level two people can be different, became frustrating in the first film and it remains obnoxious. The audience understands they are polar opposites, the brain and brawn, the Pillsbury Dough Boy and Adonis. For them to consistently argue with each other, and always at the exact wrong time, is even a bit too lowbrow for a sequel emphasizing its sequelness. The stunts are unnecessarily extreme and the chases are deliberately chock full of standard sequel excess, including a Lamborghini.

Despite all the obvious pitfalls and copycat story, 22 Jump Street improbably and surprisingly works. It is 2014’s funniest comedy so far. Some of the jokes and scenes come off so well they make up for the stale and derivative ones that fall through the floor. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, responsible for 2014’s best film so far, The LEGO Movie, somehow create praise worthy movies from premises which sound ridiculous. They made a great movie about plastic toys and two good comedies built on an ‘80s police procedural foundation. If you can get around 22 Jump Street’s grating character conflicts and one-note gay jokes, there is an enjoyable comedy here.